IP DNA - Wheatstone Advanced AoIP Solutions for TV

Wheatstone: Advancing IP Audio Solutions for Television

The shift to IP for television is something we've been working on for years. Our Wheatstone Bridge system, with many still in operation, is the foundation that’s allowed networked audio to keep pace with advances in video technology. It has also become the blueprint for network scaling and functionality in modern AoIP systems regardless of brand.

With WheatNet-IP, we’ve taken what we’ve learned about networked audio and built the most advanced IP audio network ecosystem available for broadcast. Our evolved IP audio works seamlessly with modern standards such as SMPTE 2110, ATSC 3.0, and more in the works.

Engaging the AES67 standard we helped author in conjunction with other AES task force members, we provide a system that not only routes, but gives you the tools you need to manage and manipulate your audio in any way you’ll need for your specific applications. This is all built into each and every BLADE interface on the network.

With thousands of mature IP Audio networked systems already deployed in radio and TV studios around the world, we’re ready to provide you with everything you need to be at the top of your game when it comes to IP audio-for-television. We’re bullet-proof, lightning fast, and we’ve got the installations to prove it.

This is what the DNA of audio networking can do for you:

Intelligent Distributed Routing

WheatNet-IP utilizes AoIP to distribute audio intelligently to devices across scaleable networks, enabling all sources to be available to, and controlled from, any and all devices. WheatNet-IP is AES67 compatible, yet is unique in that it represents an entire decentralized end-to-end solution, complete with audio transport, full control, and a toolset to enable exceptionally intelligent deployment and operation. It handles all audio formats - HD/SDI, AES, MADI, AoIP, and Analog - to provide completely seamless operation in your broadcast/production chain.

Advanced Control Hardware

Wheatstone’s control surfaces provide complete mixing tools for interacting with our WheatNet-IP Intelligent Network and are distinguished from smallest to largest only by the size and scope of your needs. All are designed expressly for use with the working preferences of TV audio professionals. Our Series Two is our most modest, with a tiny footprint and controls suited to live and automated TV. Our IP-64 is our largest and offers our most advanced feature set. All embrace current standards, such as SMPTE 2110, AES67, and are open ended to incorporate any future standards.

Automation Control Interface

Grass Valley Ignite. Ross Overdrive. Sony ELC. Mosart – all are systems that allow for automated production of live news. Wheatstone's Automation Control Interface works with all of those, and many more, to allow audio to function in a console-free environment. For this automated programming, we offer a VMI (Virtual Mixing Interface) along with GLASS-E, a virtual control surface that allows remote control when necessary, via the internet. With Wheatstone, audio can follow or call the shots as you decide.

Long & Short Haul Sports Coverage

Whether you're covering a story across town, or handling audio for a Sunday game from 3000 miles away, Wheatstone has the WAN solution you need. At-Home, or REMI (remote-integration model) applications have been growing as alternatives to full broadcast production vans for covering sports. Smart BLADE-3 interfaces can deploy dozens of audio services, as well as provide multiple control and automation capabilities including latency-free venue-side IFB. And they interface seamlessly with systems from Artel and others to carry audio and video from venue to production.

IFB & More Built In

Native to every BLADE interface is the means to create a completely decentralized IFB system with no 3rd party hardware. The speed of our network means there is truly virtually no latency when using the intercom functions, so real-time audio is a reality. Taking it further, these same tools create a virtually unlimited number of mix minuses, speaker muting, and more essential audio-for-TV features.

Flexibility & Format Interoperation

WheatNet-IP is a complete end-to-end audio ecosystem and as such can handle most of your audio needs comfortably. It's also capable of being format agnostic and can easily handle audio format conversion on the fly. Interfacing with different networking systems happens seamlessly in realtime. Audio formats such as HD/SDI, AES, MADI, AoIP, and Analog or, different protocols, such as Dante, Ravenna, Livewire, etc, are accommodated though AES67, which is part of the SMPTE 2110-6 Media-over-IP standard.

Top End Performance

WheatNet-IP is unique in the network world in the way it handles traffic. No audio is passed or available on the network until it is requested. And when that request is closed, so is that audio channel. This dramatically reduces congestion and the possibility of packet collision/failure. Plus, it's the only network that operates at full Gigabit Ethernet rates, which means extremely low latency for realtime monitoring.

Networkable Audio Processing

Built into every BLADE are stereo processors that can be deployed anywhere on the network. This provides a cost-effective solution to audio correction and/or sweetening for remote feeds, audio from different studios, call-ins, and more. Additionally, Wheatstone’s M-1, M-2, and M4-IP mic processors have become absolute standards in the broadcast industry.

Software for True Customization

Engineers never cease to amaze us with their ingenuity, so to that end, we develop our hardware and software to encourage exploration and customization. ScreenBuilder is a very powerful software platform that allows you to create just about any on-screen control environment you can imagine. Think of it as a control construction kit that lets you put your most inventive ideas to work. IP Meters gives you the ability to create screens with banks of meters for viewing anywhere in your facility. And Navigator provides a system overview that lets you setup your workflows and create macros or salvos that can facilitate complete changeups with the push of a button.

And We Include a Rack's Worth of Tools... Virtually, Of Course

A network needs more than basic routing. It needs optimal control and integrated tools to get the most out of it. We know this from years of building networks and working with broadcast facilities to deliver their vision of how their work needs to flow. So, we build an entire rack's worth of tools into every BLADE interface we make. Mixers, processors, logic tools, routing tools, and tools that defy description. If you can think it, you can make it happen with WheatNet-IP.

There's far more to Wheatstone's WheatNet-IP system than simple routing.

The phone comparison is a good analogy – in WheatNet-IP there's a world of audio modification tools and control options that allow you to create solutions unique to your applications with ease. All work with existing standards and are created to evolve with emerging and future standards as well.